Mr. Ali Shan was six at the time of Partition. He had never heard of India or Pakistan. He shared the harrowing tale of that fateful day in 1947 that completely changed his life. When a mob attacked his village in District Ludhiana he watched his family and most of the people in his village get murdered. The gunman shot at him several times but missed each time. He survived and got the courage to run. As fate would have it, a mobster saved him and took him along. They walked for two days, spending the night on the way and he was turned over to a family, who raised him as their own for six months. He was a Muslim being raised as a Sikh. Eventually, the Pakistani military took him to a camp in Lahore where he was all alone, a six year old orphan. His maternal uncle was searching for him and found him in the camp and raised him. Today he stresses a message of peace and tolerance among all people. It was very difficult for him to share this story but he feels it is very important that people come forward to share these stories so that this sort of thing does not happen again... so that we can learn from the past.

Mr. (Brigadier) Dewan Chand Duggal (retired from the Indian Army), was twenty-five years old and had joined the British-Indian Army as an officer when Partition happened. He was posted in Hong Kong at the time and when Partition was announced he received news that his mother and younger siblings – all of who were in Peshawar (now northwest Pakistan) – had left Peshawar for India. He also had news of much rioting and violence and feared the worst for his family. Unfortunately he had lost his father; his mother was a widow having lost her husband only the previous year in 1946. Upon learning of this development Mr. Duggal requested leave of his British commanding officer and rushed to India. But he did not clearly know where the family was and when they would reach India. He knew they were headed for Haridwar in northern India because Mr. Duggal’s father-in-law to be had offered up a house he owned in Haridwar to Mr. Duggal’s mother because he had a lot of respect for Mr. Duggal’s deceased father. With great difficulty Mr. Duggal reached India during this tumultuous time and then realized he could only get close to Haridwar via train but had no means to reach the house where he hoped to find his mother and siblings. Finally he reached the outskirts and walked tens of miles to the house where he did find his family. There was a very emotional and heart-breaking reunion as his mother related to him how they had to flee and had lost everything in the process. Mr. Duggal told us the harrowing story of how his mother insisted on going back to Peshawar on the trains that were taking people back and forth and often turning up at train stations only full of murdered passengers. She wanted to go back to try to retrieve some money or gold; this was because she had moved to India thinking it was a temporary move and was shocked to learn that Partition had indeed come to pass and she had no means to take care of or raise her children. Against all odds and everyone’s advice she did go back, somehow managed to retrieve some gold and money, brough it back and raised her remaining four children with some help from Mr. Duggal who was the only earning member of that family. Eventually all the kids - Mr. Duggal’s siblings - grew up and went to college – and left Haridwar.

Born as Ravinder Kumar Chopra in 1939, Ravi Chopra is the eldest of seven siblings. He was born in Lahore to a Diwan family, and lives today in San Jose, near his children. Mr. Chopra was only eight and a half years old at the time of Partition. He recalls that even up to two months before Partition, his Hindu family had a very friendly, and even affectionate relationship with Muslims in the community. Until Partition, Chopra was even babysat by Muslim family friends, and studied under a Muslim teacher in school.He remembers that about a month before Partition, there was a sudden change in the community, and friends who played together one day were suspicious of each other the next. At this time, Mr. Chopra’s father (a policeman) was promoted to another city. It was quickly decided that the family needed to leave immediately after the exams, but things grew worse much quicker than expected. One night, a Muslim friend who wanted them to be safe came to their house and warned them that they were to leave that very night. The family had only about 12 hours to pack up what they could, and carried it tied around their bodies to the railway station. Just as they boarded a passenger train to a bigger station, they saw their house in flames through the window.When the train came to the next station, Mr. Chopra was caught in the middle of gunfire (it was unclear who exactly was firing), and a bullet grazed his leg. His grandmother was extremely distraught at his profuse bleeding. Not knowing what else to do, with no medical care around, she took the only dhuti she had brought with her, sterilized it with her own urine, and wrapped it around the wound. When the train came, the family offered all of their possessions to be hidden in the compartment of a Muslim man, under the guise of being his family. Spending the train ride in the crowded compartment, the Muslim gentleman would pass them off as his family every time they were questioned. Chopra recalls seeing young girls throwing themselves into wells to protect their honor, and seeing dead bodies strewn along the train tracks. Once they arrived at Ferozepur, Ravi and his family spent ten nights in a refugee camps, where there was no hygiene, and life was miserable.Once reunited with his parents, Ravi and his family were given a house comparable to the one they had to leave behind, and started anew. His father was reinstated as a policeman, and he joined the army at age 15. Ravi’s paternal grandmother chose to stay behind with their family home, living with a Muslim servant who was very loyal to their family. The family survived financially because once his grandmother was forcibly removed from their home a few months later, she brought several kilograms of solid gold hidden in the walls with her. Today, Ravi has still not been able to go back to his home in Pakistan, as his position in the army made it difficult for him to get a visa to go to Pakistan. He lives in San Jose, CA, along with his children and their families,.